“For the last two, probably three years, the deal we have been willing to settle for has grown significantly less good” Andrew Peek was a strategic advisor to the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan and foreign affairs advisor to two U.S. Senators. He is currently a professor and director of Claremont-McKenna College’s Washington […]

Artiklen blev bragt den 8. Aug, 2015

“Americans are so hung up on the democracy thing. Get over it.”

Roby Barrett on the Middle East

“Americans are so hung up on the democracy thing; I think they have got to get over it. You have to look at the region, not just over the past 20 years, and not just for what you want to see, but how it has functioned over the past. That is where we have been […]

Artiklen blev bragt den 4. Aug, 2015

Why does Turkey hesitate?Interview with Nick Danforth

By Troels Boldt Rømer TQT: Why has Turkey decided to join the anti-IS coalition now? And why did Turkey accept an influx of fighters and weapons through Turkey and to the Syrian battlefield for so long? Danforth: Turkey’s involvement in Syria has left Erdogan in a position where he has a great deal at stake […]

Artiklen blev bragt den 12. Oct, 2014

“The way I see it, there are actually serious contradictions between democracy and liberalism”

REFLECTIONS: Chua Beng Huat

By Jelis Bosse and Helle Asbjørn Sørensen BACKGROUND. In less than 50 years, Singapore has evolved from a poor, colonial outpost without natural resources to an economically successful hub of international trade. Today, 5.4 million people reside in the city-state and with a tenfold rise in GDP per capita, the average Singaporean is now wealthier […]

Artiklen blev bragt den 13. Aug, 2014

Gaza. What would a ceasefire deal look like?Interview with Prof. Robert Brynen

“Clearly the American vision of a ceasefire is not identical to the Israeli one. I think that the United States accepts that the blockade of Gaza is excessive and that the demands that the blockade be relaxed are appropriate, regardless of where they come from, Hamas or otherwise, and that it should probably be part […]

Artiklen blev bragt den 1. Aug, 2014

Gaza. “The blockade is legal but not smart”Interview with Dr. Natan Sachs

“The blockade is legal but not smart. The effects on the civilians are terrible. Israel could have allowed civilian life in Gaza to continue. But the fundamental key to change is not in the hands of Israel. It’s in the hands of the Palestinians. At the end of the day, if the Palestinians are ruled […]

Artiklen blev bragt den 27. Jul, 2014

Gaza. “Any peaceful settlement has to include Hamas and I think it is important for the EU and the US to realize this”.Interview with John Dugard

“I think it is wrong to portray the present conflict as self-defense on the part of Israel. Israel is taking military action in order to maintain and enforce its occupation of Gaza. It is an occupying power that wishes to remain an occupying power and it is taking enforcement action to maintain that occupation”. JOHN […]

Artiklen blev bragt den 26. Jul, 2014

How does the world look at Israel’s operation in Gaza?Interview with Jonathan Rynhold

“Israel, the Palestinian Authority, the European Union and the United States are all on the same page. Everybody thinks that Hamas shouldn’t win or come out of this looking well.” Dr. JONATHAN RYNHOLD is educated at London School of Economics, and currently works as Director for the Argov Center for the study of Israel & […]

Artiklen blev bragt den 24. Jul, 2014

Gaza. What does Israel hope to achieve?Interview with Daniel Levy

“The Israeli establishment says: “How would anyone else respond to having rockets fired against them?” And the answer is: Well, no one else is maintaining this kind of an occupation”. DANIEL LEVY is an Israeli political scientist. He has previously served as a special advisor to the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and as a […]

Artiklen blev bragt den 22. Jul, 2014

Can ISIS hold what it has conquered?Interview with Reinoud Leenders

“I think the success of ISIS might be the source of its downfall. From that perspective, it is only a matter of time before the Iraqi armed forces can launch an effective counterattack” Troels Boldt Rømer of TQT speaks to Dr. Reinoud Leenders, Kings College London TQT: Many people have been surprised that ISIS – […]

Artiklen blev bragt den 28. Jun, 2014

What stokes sectarianism in the Middle East?Interview with Fatima Ayub

QUOTES: – A lot of what we call sectarian politics is purely cynical manipulation in times of crisis for the purpose of preserving and extending power – Lighting a match in the forest is easy, but putting out the fire is very difficult. In Iraq and Syria it’s the task of a generation to deal […]

Artiklen blev bragt den 2. Dec, 2013

Has Russia become more powerful? Interview with Steven Pifer

“The increase in Russian power, in the case of Syria, is due to a series of poor decisions made here in the US and not an actual increase in Russian power” By Sahra-Josephine Hjorth og Nadja Arøe Simonsen Is the world we live in unipolar, bipolar or multipolar? PIFER: In references to nuclear weapons it […]

“The United States has shown a great deal of public deferrence to Saudi anxieties and positions, but I also suspect that the United Stated will be willing or able to live with an aggravated or aggrieved Saudi Arabia if it means that a settlement with Iran on the nuclear issue is a potential political outcome. […]

Artiklen blev bragt den 30. Oct, 2013

Will Iran and the US make a deal?Interview with Rouzbeh Parsi

“[Rouhani] wants a deal but he is also going to stick to Iran’s red lines. We are dealing with a greater flexibility on the part of Iran on the modalities of reaching a goal which everyone is familiar with by now: Iran is going to have enrichment of uranium on their own soil. Anything else […]

Artiklen blev bragt den 16. Oct, 2013

The Middle East: How does Israel look at the crises in Syria and Egypt?Interview with Eldad Beck

“Whatever illusions the Israeli public had about reaching peace with its Arab neighbours are really fading away. Many Israelis asks themselves why Israel should make more compromises in a situation where everything around them is burning.” Eldad Beck is Middle East correspondent for the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, ynetnews.com and author of the 2009 book […]

Artiklen blev bragt den 29. Aug, 2013

Afghanistan: Is the Taliban ready for change?Interview with Ahmed Rashid

“The peace-lobby in Taliban don’t want an ongoing civil war. They know perfectly well that if they continue fighting after the Americans and the other Western countries leave, then there will be a civil war that will go on and on and continue indefinitely. And this time the government, the Afghan army, the Northern Alliance, […]

Artiklen blev bragt den 13. Jul, 2013

From Snowden to Syria: How does Putin look at the world?Interview with Steven Pifer

QUOTE. “If you flipped the situation around, and we had a Russian version of Snowden stuck at Dulles International airport, we would not turn him over either” – Pifer. Interview by Sahra-Josephine Hjorth with Steven Pifer, Director of the Brookings Arms Control Initiative. Pifer is senior fellow with the Center for 21st Century Security and […]

Artiklen blev bragt den 10. Jul, 2013

Will Iran change its nuclear policy? Interview with Matthew Kroenig

“The supreme leader Ali Khamenei has been facing this choice between having a nuclear program or having a healthy economy since at least 2005, and every time he has chosen to opt for a nuclear program. I do not see any reason to think that Khamenei will change this course”. Interview by David Jano with […]

Artiklen blev bragt den 1. Jul, 2013

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Artiklen blev bragt den 30. Jun, 2013

We Are The Question Today

CLEMENT BEHRENDT KJERSGAARD (born 1975) is the founder and editor-in-chief of TQT. Bilingual IB from the United World College of Hong Kong (1992-1994), MA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Oxford (1994-1997) and BA from the University of Copenhagen (1998-2003). Since 2004 he has been a broadcaster with the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, […]

Artiklen blev bragt den 30. Jun, 2013

This is the Question Today

The Question Today is a world politics magazine aimed a global audience. Totally independent, based in Copenhagen, Europe but aimed at a worldwide audience, financed by advertising and – in time – subscriber content. For TQT a global network of interviewers will interview experts and decision makers in a Q&A-format, focusing on those issues that […]